Monday, March 30, 2015

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dust Sea (PS3) Review

Atelier Shallie Review

by Tina Hand

Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the
Dusk Sea is technically the third and final installment in an Atelier trilogy
that began with Atelier Ayesha. For
those who've never played an Atelier game, it works fairly well as a
stand-alone title. The references to
previous games are tastefully done, and those things that carry over are
explained in subtle enough ways to not seem like boring repetition, even when
one has played previous games. To
describe the series in a nutshell, it’s basically RPG-meets-crafting sim, where
your main character uses alchemy to craft items. Much like the second game in the series,
Shallie lets you choose between two potential main characters: Shallistera, the
future chief of Lugion village; and Shallote, an inexperienced alchemist in the
city of Stellard. To add to the confusion,
both girls go by the nickname “Shallie”, hence the title of the game. For the purposes of this review, it is
important to note that I chose to follow Shallistera’s story.

Unlike previous games in the
Atelier series, this particular one has done away with time limits. The previous games had a
limited number of days, weeks, months, etc. in which to accomplish specific
plot-related tasks and events. Shallie
has done away with the restrictions of a time limit, instead using a
complicated stamina system to try and push players forwards with the story. As in previous games, there are plentiful
items to craft, and a variety of hunting or gathering tasks to complete for
bonus cash. This becomes increasingly
necessary the further into the game you progress, simply because like most
Atelier games, money isn't very easy to come by.

The battle system is fairly simple
and very easy to grasp quickly, yet offers enough variety to assist in
preventing boredom. Like other Atelier
games, it is turn-based, with the ability to (eventually) swap back row support
characters for front row active characters.
The addition of a Burst gauge, an Ultimate gauge, Field Bursts, and
various other effects allow the player to control the battlefield with ease, provided the player is paying attention.
That being said, experience distribution is still something that came
off seeming completely random. There
were times where battles will net a grand total of 1 experience point, and
others where you fight the exact same group of enemies and yet earn more. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how
earnings are calculated, which can be frustrating when trying to level up.

The only thing about battles that frustrated
me was that some characters have different skills depending on if they’re in
attack or defensive stance, and it was never made clear how to switch between
the two. It would just…happen. Which could be very inconvenient when I
needed Kortes' attack skills and he was—for whatever reason—suddenly in
defensive stance. One change I really
liked was that they removed the MP requirements for performing alchemy. Instead they made some of the higher level
items require MP for use. And, with the
addition of a key Burst skill for the main Alchemist you pick, unlocking later
in the game, those items could be used without reducing the item count (if the
player chose Stera) or duplicated without impacting turn order (if the player
chose Lotte).

Character growth is static until
level 40, when the player unlocks something called the Growth system. This addition allows you to customize the
growth of your character, aiming them towards improving specific stats and
granting them bonuses. It allows a
player to carefully enhance the characters he or she plans to use primarily for
those tasks they are best suited for, or to compensate for a perceived
weakness. It is important to note that
as of launch, the Growth System has a fatal flaw, where it will freeze and
crash the game when that particular menu is loaded. As of the posting of this review, there has
been a patch to correct this flaw, and the system now functions as designed
without crashing the game. Without the
patch, however, that section of the game is completely unusable.

Graphics-wise, the game is nothing to
write home about. Don’t get me wrong,
here. The art is well done, backgrounds
are clear and crisp, and everything is HD, with no jaggies or clipping. However, there’s not really anything to make
it stand out from the previous two in the series, and something that actually
does stand out is the variable frame rate.
Now, I’m not one to complain about graphics, normally, but this really
threw me. There are times where
everything is smooth, crisp, and clear, without any issues whatsoever. Yet during numerous cut scenes, the graphics
would hang just long enough to be noticeable.
Also, there would be numerous times where a character’s mouth movements
wouldn’t synch up with the audio. This
is particularly noticeable for Wilbell during her Ultimate attack, and if she
gets the killing blow in a battle. While
not major, game-breaking flaws, they were slightly off-putting, if only because
they’re shoved in your face.

Video game music is one area I have
always felt needed more attention. What
is the one thing everyone who ever played Crono Cross will say? No matter what their personal opinion of the
game, everyone thought the music was beautifully done. Atelier Shallie does have a good sound track,
with multiple battle tracks and gently understated field music, so you never
find yourself overwhelmed with sound.
The voice acting is realistic and believable, sounds perfectly natural,
and never yanks you out of the game.
About my only complaint with the audio ties to the intro. Or, I suppose I should say “intros”, since
there are technically two. Both opening
sequences are, to put it bluntly, boring.
No action, in some places little to no color, and music so low that
would put a raging bull to sleep. There
is nothing to recommend them, nothing that would ever get someone watching them
excited for the game. It’s almost a
shame the intros are both so bad, if only because the game is so much better.

Overall, this is a well-made
game. Barring the one critical component
failure that has thankfully been patched at this point, it doesn’t really have
any glaring issues that make me want to put the controller down and throw my
hands up in frustration. The removal of
a time limit allow the player to go through the game at his or her own pace,
and compensates for every other perceived failing. Battles are challenging but not truly
difficult, with a few exceptions.
Synthesis recipes are plentiful and varied, ingredients plentiful and
for the most part easy to come by with a little determination, and the plot—while
not exactly the most compelling story—has enough to keep a player’s interest
and resolves the trilogy nicely. I would
definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the series, as a good way to
introduce one’s self to the world of crafting RPGs.